SOUTHPORT, England -- The timing was perfect, symbolically and sentimentally.
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| It has been a while since he has been in this position, but Greg Norman says, 'I still cherish it, I relish it.' (AP) |
Given that his name was improbably perched atop the massive yellow British Open leaderboard, it felt like some sort of surreal flashback.
Then 53-year-old Greg Norman, a two-time Open champion already, rolled in a 20-footer to save par, retaining the outright lead Friday at rocking, retro Royal Birkdale.
Déjà vu is usually measured in moments, not entire weeks, right?
Linn Strickler, Norman's caddie, worked for the Shark back in his heyday in the 1980s and has the feeling he has seen this all before.
"H.G. Wells," Strickler cracked.
That influential British writer authored the fabled book The Time Machine, one of the great works of science fiction. Then again, Norman is penning something equally far-fetched this week at the 137th Open, finishing with his second consecutive even-par 70 to conjure up all sorts of memories.
"Yeah, of course you feel like you're stepping back in time," Norman said.
The mists of time, as it were. In his decidedly star-crossed prime, Norman collected both of his career majors at the British Open, in 1986 and 1993. For context, consider that rising U.S. tour star Anthony Kim was 13 months old when Norman won the former.
Even in golf terms, Sharky, as the Aussie players call him, is a bit long in the tooth. But he was on the grounds and much in the mix when Jack Nicklaus won the 1986 Masters at 46, so age might be a relative, if not irrelevant, thing.
"That goes to show you, 46 and 53, there's not much difference in age right there," Norman said.
